We had a fantastic time at Golfinity for our awards party this year. The food was great, there were some tears and lots of laughter as we looked back at all the fun tournaments we had (even the rained out one) and celebrated our members for their spirit, competitiveness, and loyalty to each other and to the wonderful game of golf. 

Award winners:

Volunteer of the Year - Caran Colvin
Biggest Loser of the Year - Sam Garrett
Recruiter of the Year - Stacy Chapman
Rookie of the Year - Vic Gehrig
Judi Nudelman Founder's Award - Caran Colvin
Golfer of the Year - Kristin Hazard
Fun Award - Cheerleader - Sandy Wood
Fun Award - Girl Scout - Sita Cilfone-Guillot
Fun Award - The Scream - Vic Gehrig
Newbies of the Year - Dawn Green and Stacy Chapman
Member Shout-outs - Jennifer Karpyshyn, Jessica Salinas, Joanna Cossum, Kristina Hayes, Peggy Smith, Susan Smiley, Tonia Norman, Theresa Moody

Our annual Stay and Play Weekend was held Oct. 21-23 at the beautiful Tapatio Springs Resort in Boerne, TX. We enjoyed lots of golf and spending time with ladies we don't get to see very often. 

Lone Star Cup is a team event played against other chapters from Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, Fort Worth and Baton Rouge. It is intended to simulate the Solheim Cup. The tournament is a two-day event. The first day is team match play and second day is singles match play.  Each team consists of 12 golfers (and usually 1-2 alternates).  Lone Star Cup in not directly sponsored by LPGA Amateurs national organization as it started years ago as a fun way to get to know our neighboring chapters and have a friendly competition. We typically have 25 or more ladies interested in being on the Austin team so we have a match play qualifier to help determine our team.  Your 2022 team captain was Theresa Moody and co-captain was Laurie Ben. Team members were Lili Taufa, Trish Hoener, Terri Escobar, Susan Smiley, Sally Bowman, Kristin Hazard, Stacy Cohen, Samantha Garrett, Sandy Wood, Tonia Norman and Teri Evans. Forest Creek was a wonderful venue to host the event. We finished third this year. 

Our 2022 Chapter Sponsor Terri Hoffman, CLU, CExP, sponsored our August event at the brand new indoor facility Golfinity. We received some great information about how to best invest our money, and then we were turned loose to experience the exciting Trachman Technology on the big screens. 

We paired with the San Antonio Chapter on a scorching hot July morning for a scramble fun play tournament. Several players had some minor heatstroke but everyone had a good time playing with new ladies and getting a chance to test their skills on a difficult course. 

Our June Funplay Event at Forest Creek Golf Course was sadly rained out. However for the ladies who braved the torrential downpour and accompanying  thunderstorm we had some drinks and breakfast and gave out some raffle prizes. It was a good chance to sit down and visit with friends we hadn't seen in a while and just have a good time. Hopefully next year's event will be blue skies and warm temps. 

Thirty-one ladies played in our second fun play tournament of the year at Vaaler Creek. The weather was unseasonably scorching but the course was in great shape. Hailey and Katie were able to drive the green on the par 4 #18 over a huge pond which some of us couldn't even hit over after laying up! Congrats to our CTP winners Marci and Ashley, longest drive winners Jules and Vicki, low gross team of Hailey, Jaclyn, Rebecca, and Ashley, and low net team of Sally, Cheri, Katie and Sandy.

We had a full field of 36 for our first funplay tournament of the year. The weather was fantastic (unlike last year) and the course was in great shape. We had a fun "beat the pro" hole on the par 3 where only 4 ladies were able to land their shots closer to the pin than Francis Biondi. These ladies won a free lesson from Francis! Congrats to our CTP winners Caran and Lili, longest drive winner Kelsey, low gross team of Theresa, Kristin, Sandy and Samantha, and low net team of Deonna, Sita, Erin and Caran (which was a 3-way tie and had to go to a scorecard play-off).

It was nice to see lots of new faces at our 2022 Kickoff brunch and casino. Alot of our returning members also attended to catch up with friends they hadn't seen since the Fall. We did a quick re-cap of switching to GHIN, discussed upcoming events including more clinics, weekly leagues, and then it was time to gamble! Congrats to Analis for winning the Hand and Stone gift card and Kristin for winning the 50/50 draw! Our silent auction raised $1,600 for the Chapter so that was a huge bonus! 

1. Go to 
   https://www.txga.org/start/join/?cid=8840
2. If you have been using GolfNet for your handicap then you already have a GHIN # so the answer to the 1st question will be "yes". Enter your GHIN # in the box that pops up. 

1. If you used GHIN in the past but it has been longer than 2 years since you used it your number was likely deactivated and you will have to get a new number and start tracking your handicap from scratch. You can check if your number is assigned to you by answering "I don't know" and then entering your old GHIN# but please make sure the number has not been re-assigned to a new person. Or you can contact Melinda Hipp at mhipp8822@gmail.com and have her check the database for you. 
2. If you are currently using GHIN and would like to transfer to the LPGA Amateurs GHIN click on the link above and answer "yes" to the first question, enter your GHIN# and your scores will all be transferred. 
3. If you have never used GHIN or Golfnet then your answer to the first question will be "no". Enter your information and pay the registration fee.
4. After you have paid the membership fee you will receive a confirmation email. Once your application has been approved you will receive another email from TGA and are now a member of GHIN. Download the app and create a login using your GHIN# and start entering your scores!

Our last event of the 2021 season was held at a new (to us) indoor golf facility called ROK Golf. This is similar to other indoor golfing venues but they have the capability to record your swing so you can see right away where you can improve. This was very eye-opening for a lot of us!

We handed out several awards this year. Congrats to all the volunteers and members who made this year great for the Austin LPGA Amateurs!

Rookie of the Year - Ashley Bruno
Judi Nudelman Founders Award - Judi Blue
Golfer of the Year - Lara Enzor
Volunteer of the Year - Jennifer Karpyshyn
Recruiter of the Year - Judi Blue
Biggest Loser - Julie Stout
Fun Award: Cheerleader - Sandy Wood
Fun Award - The Scream - Sita Guillot, Theresa Moody, Tammy Pirtle
Fun Award - Girl Scout - Lara Enzor

Membership Chair - Wendy Malloch
Communications Chair - Jennifer Karpyshyn
Handicap Chair - Melinda Hipp
League Coordinators - Theresa Moody, Kristin Hazard, Lara Enzor, Cheri Hisaw, Jenifer Karpyshyn, Lili Taufa, Caran Colvin

Great golf, great food, great weather and great friends! We could not have asked for a more perfect weekend for our annual Ladies Golf Weekend. Some ladies played all 3 courses over the weekend while most played only Saturday and Sunday. We had a hospitality suite with music, snacks and rousing games of LRC. Somebody brought a Fireball Keg! It was a great weekend and we hope to see you at our next one in 2022!

Congratulations to our Austin Lone Star Cup team. They put up a good fight at the Sept. 23-25 tournament in Houston but were unable to defeat repeat champions Baton Rouge. The beautiful team shirts were sponsored by Teri Evans of Hand and Stone Massage. 

We had an awesome time at Shadowglen Golf Course in Manor despite the "tropical rainshowers". The course was in great condition and the competition was fierce! COngratulations to the low gross team of Jennifer Karpyshyn, Sue Anderson, Susan Belvin and Vicki Raymond for shooting a 73, and the low net team of Judi Blue, Becky McGillick, Caran Colvin and Lili Taufa with a 60. Longest Drive went to Susan Belvin and CTP went to Danielle Sorresso. And Caran won $190 in the 50/50 draw! 

     


    

Our End of Year Christmas Scramble and Member Recognition Event was a fun albeit cool day at the beautiful Wolfdancer Golf Club. 35 ladies braved the grey skies in a 2-person scramble followed by a great meal and lots of laughs. Susan Belvin won longest drive and CTP. The team of Deonna Million and Sita Cilfone won low gross and Susan Belvin and Linda Heurkins won low net. Thanks to all the ladies who dressed up for the occasion and we look forward to seeing y'all next year!
       

Our very own Judi Blue was awarded the Volunteer of the Month award for her work with the USGA-LPGA Girls Golf Program through The First Tee of Greater Austin. "She serves as the Volunteer Coordinator for LPGA Amateurs Golf and helps to recruit other women to get involved." Check out her Facebook article at https://www.facebook.com/firstteeaustin

Our first fun-play tournament of the season was held at Vaaler Creek Golf Club. We had 33 ladies from the Austin Chapter and 17 from San Antonio! This was a 4-person modified shamble event. Congratulations to all the winners, especially our lovely Best-Dressed Team of Lara Enzor, Kim Golden, Diane Lee and Gwen Neal. With all of the precautions that had to be negotiated due to COVID-19 a special thanks goes out to the organizing committee Judi Blue, Wendy Malloch and Cheri Hisaw.